Here we see how McMurphy's effect works on Bromden. Elaine Ware observes, "Kesey exposes the hospital as a chamber of tortures. Bromden receives no help from the hospital because the environment is conducive to mental illness, not to mental health. Only through the support of McMurphy, another inmate of the hospital, does Bromden regain his strength and size and develop some self-confidence" (Ware 99). It is a slow awakening but it is an awakening and we can be assured that it would have never occurred had McMurphy never arrived. McMurphy never conceived of changing men's lives in this way but it was something that he found he could do with little ease and even some pleasure.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is an incredible look into the psyche of man. Human nature is seen in its most attractive and most hideous forms. Ratched and McMurphy become opposites struggling for the human soul in this novel with Ratched symbolizing the horrid, overbearing nature of establishment and order brought about by too much interference in the life of man. McMurphy symbolizes the carefree human spirit that yearns to be free. While society insists upon encroaching upon every last right individuals have, there will always be those that stand up to the governing order and take a stand for humanity. Like Jesus did in his day, McMurphy speaks up for those that cannot speak up for themselves. In doing so, he unleashes a wave of enlightenment that shakes up the establishment. In a sense, it could be said that McMurphy gives the men their lives back. They, in turn, becomes like his followers. This turn of events upsets everyone else and the Roman establishment had to do away with Christ...

Each man was simply too much for the establishment to contain and all they stood for was a certain amount of autonomy that would eventually lead to anarchy, or worse. From fishing trips, to simple moments of laughter, McMurphy becomes a modern-day savior for the men at the institution because he allows them a moment to discover who they are r remember who they used to be. Upon his death, the changes had already been made and there was no turning back.
Works Cited

Baurecht, William. "Separation, Initiation, and Return: Schizophrenic Episode in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'" the Midwest Quarterly. 1982. GALE Resource Database. Information Retrieved December 12, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com

Fick, Thomas. "The Hipster, the Hero, and the Psychic Frontier in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'" Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature. 1989. pp. 19-34. JSTOR Resource Database. Information Retrieved December 12, 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1347186

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Signet Books. 1962.

Spiller, Robert. Literary History of the United States. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. 1974.

Knapp, James. "Tangled in the language of the Past: Ken Kesey and Cultural Revolution." The Midwest Quarterly. 1978. GALE. Information Retrieved December 12, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com

Ware, Elaine. "The Vanishing American: Identity Crisis in Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest." MELUS. 1986. JSTOR Resource Database. Information Retrieved December 12, 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1347186